Achilles






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Who Was Involved:

- Peleus- Achilles father- a mortal
- Thetis- Achilles mother- a nymph
- Achilles- Peleus and Thetis's mortal child.
- Paris of Troy- Shot an arrow into Achilles heel.
- Odysseus- Brought Achilles into the battle at Troy
- Agamennon- Leader of the Greeks
- Patroclus- Achilles best friend

Modern Day Connections

Achilles heel suggests that people have hidden weaknesses that they hide from others

Story of Achilles

  • Achilles was the son of King Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis.

  • To make son her immortal, Thetis dipped Achilles into the river Styx as a child. With this Achilles became immortal with one exception: The heel that his mother held when she dipped him into the water remained mortal.

  • Thetis knew that since Achilles had a "weak spot" which was his heel which remained mortal during the dipping. If he went into battle, there was a slight chance he could die.

  • As a result, he was sent away, disguised as a girl, but eventually he was caught by Odysseus.

  • After he was caught, Achilles agreed to go into the battle at Troy.

  • When he is in Troy, he shows to be an unbeatable warrior.

  • After getting into a fight with Agamennon, a leader of the Greeks, Achilles refused to fight.

  • The Greeks begged for him to return, but he refused until Patroclus asked him to fight in his place, wearing his armor.

  • Achilles agreed and the next day, Patroclus was killed.

  • After that Achilles went on to defeat many foes and fight heroically.

  • Then, Paris, with the help of Apollo, shot Achilles with a poison arrow in the one place that he was vulnerable: his heel. Sadly, Achilles died.